Yet I take the 'Leaps in the grave' to be an action intended for Laertes by the Poet. His 'Hold off the earth a while,' does not necessarily imply that the body is already in the grave. He has before said, 'Lay her i'th' earth': then it was not in the grave. It is just about to be lowered, when, with that cry of 'Hold off the earth a while,' he jumps into the grave, and taking the corpse, on a bier at the side of it, in his arms, calls to the spectators to pile a mountain on them—in the wild speech that brings out Hamlet. The quiet dignity of Hamlet's speech does not comport with his jumping into the grave: Laertes comes out of the grave, and flies at Hamlet's throat. So, at least, I would have the thing acted.
There is, however, nothing in the text to show that Laertes comes out of the grave, and if the manager insist on the traditional mode, I would suggest that the grave be represented much larger. In Mr. Jewitt's book on Grave-Mounds, I read of a 'female skeleton in a grave six feet deep, ten feet long, and eight feet wide.' Such a grave would give room for both beside the body, and dismiss the hideousness of the common representation.]
[Footnote 2: —springing out of the grave and flying at Hamlet.]
[Footnote 3: Note the temper, self-knowledge, self-government, and self-distrust of Hamlet.]
[Footnote 4: The eyelids last of all become incapable of motion.]
[Footnote 5: That he loved her is the only thing to explain the harshness of his behaviour to her. Had he not loved her and not been miserable about her, he would have been as polite to her as well bred people would have him.]
[Footnote 6: The gallants of Shakspere's day would challenge each other to do more disagreeable things than any of these in honour of their mistresses.
'Ésil. s.m. Ancien nom du Vinaigre.' Supplement to Academy Dict., 1847.—'Eisile, vinegar': Bosworth's Anglo-Saxon Dict., from Somner's Saxon Dict., 1659.—'Eisel (Saxon), vinegar; verjuice; any acid': Johnson's Dict.
1st Q. 'Wilt drinke vp vessels.' The word up very likely implies the steady emptying of a vessel specified—at a draught, and not by degrees.]
[Footnote 7: —pretending care over Hamlet.]